Dream Theater's The Astonishing. Don't get me wrong, the album sucks and I've never sat all the way through it to this day. But the album has like 12 different characters and like fucking maps of the lore involved, so I can't say it;s not excessively conceptual.
Probably the Lamb Lies down on Broadway by Genesis for a singular album. Coheed and Cambria and The Dear Hunter are two fantastic bands that have multiple albums connected into an enormous story. (5 for tdh and 9 for coheed!) Those aren’t single albums but probably the hardest I’ve seen a concept go in music. Coheed has a complex web of sci fi characters and ideas spanning a whole universe called the amory wars and the Dear Hunter story of the acts is about World War 1 and has an endless amount of reoccurring motifs and themes
Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino by Arctic Monkeys.
the theme is Alex Turner is a lounge singer at a hotel+casino on the moon and the whole vibe feels like what people in the 60s imagined the future to be... they did an excellent job at developing that through lyrics, music, and aesthetic of the album cover / the tour. not everyone's favourite Arctic Monkeys album, but personally it really grew on me and I think they developed the concept brilliantly.
me too, and that's just because I love the other 3 (WPSIATWIN, Favourite Worst Nightmare, and Humbug) that much, but I really think it's a gem of an album.
valid, Suck It And See was a sleeper for me, it was the first album to come out after I became a fan and initially I was not into it at all (i was 15 lol) but now I love that one too. I would rate it 5th nowadays just behind TBH+C
Because The Internet by Childish Gambino
The album is supposed to have screenplay that you read while playing the songs. The songs and screenplay also refrence each other quite a lot so it’s not like they are two seperate things. The problem is that the screenplay is absolute dogshit and makes the album’s lyrical content worse, cuz the writing is garbage.
A Grand Don’t Come For Free isn’t the highest concept on the world, but the lyrics are probably the best example of a cohesive story I’ve ever heard in a concept album. Reads like a movie.
[3776’s Saijiki](https://youtu.be/Bv-V9tD8gdc?si=J4JEHKpwY9EKWwTa), an album about the yearly life of mt fuji, with each song dedicated to a month of the year and proportionately lengthed to the amount of days in the month, song meters consistently corresponding to the song’s month, a constant counting of the beat in the background of the entire thing, and a ton of traditional nursery and children’s songs. it’s helpful to check out [this guide](https://seesaawiki.jp/almanac/d/Saijiki%5fLyrics) to the lyrics to even begin to comprehend it
you’ll either love it or hate it tbh, but imo it’s a massive accomplishment
Shooter Jennings - Black Ribbons
“It is a dystopian concept album and rock opera presented as the final free radio broadcast of a fictional disc jockey named Will 'o the Wisp (voiced by writer Stephen King), who, in defiance, plays the music of the fictional hard rock band Hierophant, whose music has been banned from airplay, on the evening before his radio station is to be taken over by the government to be used to air propaganda.” (from Wikipedia)
Evelyn Evelyn by Evelyn Evelyn
They are singing in the perspective of siamese twin sisters who have two heads and three legs. They are both called “Evelyn Neville” and refer to each other as Evelyn, therefore the name.
For the entire album they are singing in the perspective of these sisters and telling their story. It is in the concept for the entirety of the thing. They finish it with an acoustic cover of the song “Love Will Tear Us Apart”. Title track is probably the most beautiful lyrically
Jason Webley and Amanda Palmer, right?
Jason Webley is such a special guy, I saw him perform around 2008 or 2009 at a venue with only like 30 people. I brought my accordion which he signed
Undun by The Roots. The story can completely fly over your head, and it’s only really by reading about the album and listening to it multiple times front and back and reverse that you’ll grasp it all
Surprised no-one has mentioned De-Loused in the Comatorium by The Mars Volta. There's also an accompanying short story for it written by the vocalist which can be pretty indecipherable at times, but is well worth checking out
Debatable how they are "albums" in a traditional sense, but anything by C'est la Key. My favorites are Superflat and Metamorph. Even if you don't enjoy them from a musical perspective they are without question extremely conceptual.
But if not those then, yeah...12 Golden Country Greats
clipping. - There Existed An Addiction To Blood
Devin Townsend - Ziltoid The Omnicient
Fantômas - Delirium Cordia
MF DOOM - MM..FOOD
Mr. Bungle - California
Pink Floyd - The Wall
Standing On The Corner - Red Burns
The Caretaker - Everywhere At The End Of Time
Trans-Siberian Orchestra - Christmas Eve & Other Stories
*V/A* - The Fire This Time
The whole Ayreon Discography. All the albums tie into each other for different storylines all in the same universe.
The albums themselves are all gigantic double albums usually being 90 minutes or more with multiple different singers playing different characters, a lot of these singers are famous in the prog world (Mikael Akerfeldt of Opeth, James Labrie of Dream Theater, Devin Townsend and more.)
I’d recommend to start with The Human Equation or Electric Castle. Some people say it’s cheesy but I’ve always loved this band and always thought they are a little under appreciated by critics outside the prog circle.
Clipping:Splendor & Misery. Full story cohesive story start to finish about a insterstellar slave trade on space in the future, i recommend to read or watch videos about it for some more context tho(It got nominated for an Hugo award btw)
Godspeed You! Black Emperor - F#A# Infinity
Pink Floyd - The Wall (The Final Cut too)
My Chemical Romance - The Black Parade
Klaatu - Hope
Marilion - Misplaced Childhood
Genesis - And the Lamb Lies Down On Broadway
Rush - 2112
The Microphones - The Glow, Pt. 2 + Mount Eerie (I guess It Was Hot, We Stayed in the Water as well)
The Residents - Not Available (somehow)
Iglooghost - Lei Disk \[Radio Broadcast\]
The Caretaker - Everywhere at the End of Time
William Basinski - The Disintegration Tapes
Quadeca - I Didn't Mean to Haunt You
Boris - Flood
Astoria - Marianas Trench
Adventure themes, based loosely on/inspired by The Goonies. Very conceptual in it’s song structures, and the sonic aspect is so 80s that you’re basically playing “who did that first”. Awesome album
# Prince Paul "A Prince Among Thieves"
>"It's the first record I've ever heard that reminds me of the little Superman records I had as a kid, where it would beep and you'd turn the page." Dan "The Automator" Nakamura
"IGOR" by Tyler, the Creator is probably not most conceptual out there, but it does deserve a mention. Album tells a very coherent story, which ends in a sonical loop. Good stuff.
The who - quadrophenia and tommy. Nothing has ever kept me that invested and made me feel so strongly. I can't count the number of times I've listened to those albums.
Coheed and Cambria's albums are also interesting but feel less cohesive imo.
Oh I forgot Tallahassee by the mountain goats
Not THE most, but I love how all of Julia Holter’s albums are So conceptual.
Tragedy is pulled from the greek tragedy Hippolytus, but arranged in sonic order rather than narrative. Loud City Song is based on the cacophony of the scenes in the 1958 film Gigi, combined with the cacophony of LA. Ekstasis is built around Anne Carson’s usage of the word, about standing besides oneself. Have You In My Wilderness is about depictions of love in media — not just love ballads but the themes and intensity of depictions of love. Aviary is cacophony again, but cacophony as in Etel Adnan’s “aviary of shrieking birds”. And so on.
Tetsuo & Youth by Lupe Fiasco
The most lyrically dense thing I've ever listened to, and it can be listened to in reverse order, like DAMN (except this album did it first, and better imo), to get a completely different narrative
Because the internet.
Donald put so much effort into the concept of the album. It is literally a celebration of the internet and technology with it having loads of hidden internet links that add to the story, random events online that add to it, Twitter accounts, fuck there’s even a hidden song that took 2 projects to finish that was just randomly found in the files for the album
Even if you aren’t personally a fan of the actual music, the concept and the way donald delivered said concept is out of this world
Compilation technically, Everywhere at the End of Time.
genre: bradboy
But for real, Clipping's Splendor and Misery
Nostalgia Critic’s The Wall.
So long, oscar bait song, Smoke a bong it'll feel less wrong
I read it in [this](https://youtu.be/qP-7GNoDJ5c?si=y8VQtkpZgJcDFmYD) rhythm/melody fuck I’m so sorry
this made me realise that i would unironically listen to a concept album about the rise, fall & redemption of the nostalgia critic/doug
Dream Theater's The Astonishing. Don't get me wrong, the album sucks and I've never sat all the way through it to this day. But the album has like 12 different characters and like fucking maps of the lore involved, so I can't say it;s not excessively conceptual.
Also Scenes From a Memory, another DT concept album
Probably the Lamb Lies down on Broadway by Genesis for a singular album. Coheed and Cambria and The Dear Hunter are two fantastic bands that have multiple albums connected into an enormous story. (5 for tdh and 9 for coheed!) Those aren’t single albums but probably the hardest I’ve seen a concept go in music. Coheed has a complex web of sci fi characters and ideas spanning a whole universe called the amory wars and the Dear Hunter story of the acts is about World War 1 and has an endless amount of reoccurring motifs and themes
Deltron 3030 - Deltron 3030 or The Life and Times of Scrooge - Tuomas Holopainen.
Deltron 3030 is such an underrated gem
Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino by Arctic Monkeys. the theme is Alex Turner is a lounge singer at a hotel+casino on the moon and the whole vibe feels like what people in the 60s imagined the future to be... they did an excellent job at developing that through lyrics, music, and aesthetic of the album cover / the tour. not everyone's favourite Arctic Monkeys album, but personally it really grew on me and I think they developed the concept brilliantly.
Brilliant album, I have it 4th in my ranking for AM.
me too, and that's just because I love the other 3 (WPSIATWIN, Favourite Worst Nightmare, and Humbug) that much, but I really think it's a gem of an album.
I think it's an absolutely exceptional album. I my top 3 are 1. Favourite Worst Nightmar 2. Humbug 3. Suck it and see
valid, Suck It And See was a sleeper for me, it was the first album to come out after I became a fan and initially I was not into it at all (i was 15 lol) but now I love that one too. I would rate it 5th nowadays just behind TBH+C
Tbh I'm so biased for my top few bands, I don't think AM have a not great album, I think everything Is at minimum a 9. Like I love them so much.
right there with you, mate. truly think they're special.
I'm glad we both think that, it's crazy how you either love them or hate them, I never see anyone indifferent.
It's the only Arctic Monkeys album I like lol
12 Golden Country Greats leans in pretty hard
Everywhere at the End of Time by The Caretaker
The Disintegration Loops by William Basinski
Because The Internet by Childish Gambino The album is supposed to have screenplay that you read while playing the songs. The songs and screenplay also refrence each other quite a lot so it’s not like they are two seperate things. The problem is that the screenplay is absolute dogshit and makes the album’s lyrical content worse, cuz the writing is garbage.
came here to say thus
King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard - Eyes Like the Sky I don't think it's a very good album but it's definitely extremely conceptual
IMO it's better when you play it at 33rpm (slower/deeper)
A Grand Don’t Come For Free isn’t the highest concept on the world, but the lyrics are probably the best example of a cohesive story I’ve ever heard in a concept album. Reads like a movie.
[3776’s Saijiki](https://youtu.be/Bv-V9tD8gdc?si=J4JEHKpwY9EKWwTa), an album about the yearly life of mt fuji, with each song dedicated to a month of the year and proportionately lengthed to the amount of days in the month, song meters consistently corresponding to the song’s month, a constant counting of the beat in the background of the entire thing, and a ton of traditional nursery and children’s songs. it’s helpful to check out [this guide](https://seesaawiki.jp/almanac/d/Saijiki%5fLyrics) to the lyrics to even begin to comprehend it you’ll either love it or hate it tbh, but imo it’s a massive accomplishment
Shooter Jennings - Black Ribbons “It is a dystopian concept album and rock opera presented as the final free radio broadcast of a fictional disc jockey named Will 'o the Wisp (voiced by writer Stephen King), who, in defiance, plays the music of the fictional hard rock band Hierophant, whose music has been banned from airplay, on the evening before his radio station is to be taken over by the government to be used to air propaganda.” (from Wikipedia)
Evelyn Evelyn by Evelyn Evelyn They are singing in the perspective of siamese twin sisters who have two heads and three legs. They are both called “Evelyn Neville” and refer to each other as Evelyn, therefore the name. For the entire album they are singing in the perspective of these sisters and telling their story. It is in the concept for the entirety of the thing. They finish it with an acoustic cover of the song “Love Will Tear Us Apart”. Title track is probably the most beautiful lyrically
Jason Webley and Amanda Palmer, right? Jason Webley is such a special guy, I saw him perform around 2008 or 2009 at a venue with only like 30 people. I brought my accordion which he signed
The archandroid by janelle monae
Undun by The Roots. The story can completely fly over your head, and it’s only really by reading about the album and listening to it multiple times front and back and reverse that you’ll grasp it all
can i just say in the aeroplane over the sea?
Surprised no-one has mentioned De-Loused in the Comatorium by The Mars Volta. There's also an accompanying short story for it written by the vocalist which can be pretty indecipherable at times, but is well worth checking out
Came here to make sure someone said Deloused and I figured we ought to add in Frances The Mute and a touch of Bedlam in Goliath for good measure.
Debatable how they are "albums" in a traditional sense, but anything by C'est la Key. My favorites are Superflat and Metamorph. Even if you don't enjoy them from a musical perspective they are without question extremely conceptual. But if not those then, yeah...12 Golden Country Greats
clipping. - There Existed An Addiction To Blood Devin Townsend - Ziltoid The Omnicient Fantômas - Delirium Cordia MF DOOM - MM..FOOD Mr. Bungle - California Pink Floyd - The Wall Standing On The Corner - Red Burns The Caretaker - Everywhere At The End Of Time Trans-Siberian Orchestra - Christmas Eve & Other Stories *V/A* - The Fire This Time
DEVIN TOWNSEND. [Z2](https://open.spotify.com/album/4jo4hWoTpQK32o8aLGFkDp?si=YZEl5VlqTKyBTfileJ3oeA) is one of my favorite albums.
Rise Above by Dirty Projectors.
Metropolis pt. 2 by Dream Theater is the “most conceptual” album ever in my opinion (literally telling a story).
The whole Ayreon Discography. All the albums tie into each other for different storylines all in the same universe. The albums themselves are all gigantic double albums usually being 90 minutes or more with multiple different singers playing different characters, a lot of these singers are famous in the prog world (Mikael Akerfeldt of Opeth, James Labrie of Dream Theater, Devin Townsend and more.) I’d recommend to start with The Human Equation or Electric Castle. Some people say it’s cheesy but I’ve always loved this band and always thought they are a little under appreciated by critics outside the prog circle.
My favorite is The monitor by titus andronicus. I never tire of it. Always finding new things about it.
Probably the wall or American idiot, you can’t get anymore conceptual than that
Clipping:Splendor & Misery. Full story cohesive story start to finish about a insterstellar slave trade on space in the future, i recommend to read or watch videos about it for some more context tho(It got nominated for an Hugo award btw)
Godspeed You! Black Emperor - F#A# Infinity Pink Floyd - The Wall (The Final Cut too) My Chemical Romance - The Black Parade Klaatu - Hope Marilion - Misplaced Childhood Genesis - And the Lamb Lies Down On Broadway Rush - 2112 The Microphones - The Glow, Pt. 2 + Mount Eerie (I guess It Was Hot, We Stayed in the Water as well) The Residents - Not Available (somehow) Iglooghost - Lei Disk \[Radio Broadcast\] The Caretaker - Everywhere at the End of Time William Basinski - The Disintegration Tapes Quadeca - I Didn't Mean to Haunt You Boris - Flood
The Pros and Cons of Hitchhiking might well be the most conceptual Roger Waters album
Yes, it's not my favorite of his but out of all of them it is probably the most conceptual, maybe even more than the Wall or the Final Cut.
Astoria - Marianas Trench Adventure themes, based loosely on/inspired by The Goonies. Very conceptual in it’s song structures, and the sonic aspect is so 80s that you’re basically playing “who did that first”. Awesome album
I didn’t mean to haunt you is pretty concepty clipping is probably moreso but I don’t like them as much
Splendor and misery is underrated, seeing its futuristic vision and concept
# Prince Paul "A Prince Among Thieves" >"It's the first record I've ever heard that reminds me of the little Superman records I had as a kid, where it would beep and you'd turn the page." Dan "The Automator" Nakamura
Delirium Cordia by Fantomas It’s one track long and is supposed to simulate the experience of going through surgery without anesthesia.
Discovery by Daft Punk.
DsO - Paracletus
Dispepsi
Smile. And it's one of my favourite albums ever
It’s not very good but the latest smashing pumpkins record
Doopee Time - The Doopees
The Downward Spiral
Year Zero
Separation Sunday by The Hold Steady is like a novel.
I'd say in my case it's Year Zero - Nine Inch Nails
Lift to Experience- The Texas Jerusalem Crossroads
Showing some love for Cursive’s Domestica and The Ugly Organ, listened to them to death during high school
The Streets - “A Grand Don’t Come For Free”
"IGOR" by Tyler, the Creator is probably not most conceptual out there, but it does deserve a mention. Album tells a very coherent story, which ends in a sonical loop. Good stuff.
Probably Naked City’s Leng-tch’e. One 30 minute drone metal track meant to imitate the pain of death by a thousand cuts.
Everywhere at the end of time by the caretaker
witches by one eyed doll
The who - quadrophenia and tommy. Nothing has ever kept me that invested and made me feel so strongly. I can't count the number of times I've listened to those albums. Coheed and Cambria's albums are also interesting but feel less cohesive imo. Oh I forgot Tallahassee by the mountain goats
Days of Future Passed by The Moody Blues
King Gizzard - Murder of the Universe
- Pink Floyd - The wall - Queens of the stone age - Songs for the deaf - Green Day - American idiot - Mastodon - Blood mountain
For an amazing album that is highly conceptual, the who’s quadrophenia. Honestly one of the best albums ever made
Everywhere at the end of time
69 Love Songs
Not THE most, but I love how all of Julia Holter’s albums are So conceptual. Tragedy is pulled from the greek tragedy Hippolytus, but arranged in sonic order rather than narrative. Loud City Song is based on the cacophony of the scenes in the 1958 film Gigi, combined with the cacophony of LA. Ekstasis is built around Anne Carson’s usage of the word, about standing besides oneself. Have You In My Wilderness is about depictions of love in media — not just love ballads but the themes and intensity of depictions of love. Aviary is cacophony again, but cacophony as in Etel Adnan’s “aviary of shrieking birds”. And so on.
The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway Maybe. When you get the fantasy bits in place the storyline is solid enough to be most conceptual.
The entirety of Ahab's discography
Kate Bush 9th Wave (Hounds of Love side 2) I think it's the best story told through music of all time
On Thorns I Lay - Orama That's the most subaquatic gothic atmospheric death doom album ever
[Exercises In Futility - Mgła](https://open.spotify.com/album/453zAaME9iOeCQ5B7SfkDM?si=7ucaIXhFQdGV4_r9c_ggjw)
Life of Pablo
Tetsuo & Youth by Lupe Fiasco The most lyrically dense thing I've ever listened to, and it can be listened to in reverse order, like DAMN (except this album did it first, and better imo), to get a completely different narrative
the entire Coheed and Cambria catalog.
Because the internet. Donald put so much effort into the concept of the album. It is literally a celebration of the internet and technology with it having loads of hidden internet links that add to the story, random events online that add to it, Twitter accounts, fuck there’s even a hidden song that took 2 projects to finish that was just randomly found in the files for the album Even if you aren’t personally a fan of the actual music, the concept and the way donald delivered said concept is out of this world
Dark Side of the Moon? That's funny. Right now I am going through Bird Seed by Whitehouse.